ARCHIVAL THEORY AND PRACTICE
Midterm Review Notes
by Todd Ellison
Introduction to archives: "archives" has 4 different meanings:
(1) the papers of an organization; specifically, noncurrent records that have been transferred to a place of long-term storage because of their long-range value (this is the primary German and American usage)
(2) the agency or institution that manages the records
(3) the building
(4) the totality of all the records of any agency or institution or person (the Romance usage; Italian archivio = records) (also used in computer jargon today)
purpose of an archives: "to meet the needs of researchers and potential archival users by ensuring that historical records are collected, identified, organized, preserved, and made available for research use."
characteristics of recorded information today:
1. voluminous, lots of data but a paucity of information
2. electronic technological developments have caused a proliferation of paper records
photographs as historical documents
· photographic records generally are the most heavily used documents in archives and manuscript repositories
· whereas writings explain "why", photos answer "how" -
· photos problems due to their varieties, impermanence (esp. the unstable medium of color photos), and volume, but they've become a basic means of documentation; recognize that they may have been taken for different purposes than users have in mind today
information is a commodity; it is our capital; it is a strategic resource, it is power; this makes us more than clerks, if we recognize these facts, because communication is the life channel of the information age
Should archivists collect everything?
What are the risks of not preserving everything?
What are the risks of trying to preserve it all?
What is "everything?"
Information is a commodity; it's capital. With the proliferation of new technologies the quantity of data has skyrocketed by the quality of each item has plummeted. As a result, archivists have to take the large view of the world of information and must be selective. They can't just rake it in.
graph of varieties of documents:
immediacy reliability accessibility permanence
oral history
written documents
personal letters
email
photos
audiocassettes
videos
magnetic diskettes
telephone
3 pairs of categories of the six archival functions:
1. appraisal and acquisition
2. organization (arrangement and description)
3. access and preservation
6 functional categories of records:
1. personal
2. social
3. economic
4. legal
5. instrumental
6. symbolic
key article by F. Gerald Ham, for understanding new role of archivists -- 9 questions written in class exercise
7 differences between libraries, archives, and museums (think about how these differences – and the similarities – shape the nature of the job of a librarian, an archivist, and a curator):
Key point: archives and libraries all hold most of the same categories of items, but in different proportions, and the rationale for their creation/compilation is different
libraries mostly contain published materials (books, periodicals, maps, A/V materials, microforms...), mostly with items obtained commercially
museums also hold permanently valuable materials--but mostly artifacts, 3 dimensional
1. ratio of different forms of contents
- archives contain permanently valuable records; mostly unpublished materials, many of them unique; if published materials, they're apt to have been personalized: autographed or gathered thoughtfully to form a collection, but usually items that never attained commercial status
- libraries mostly contain published materials, most obtained commercially
2. purpose of their creation
a. librarians have a commercial interest
b. archivists satisfy corporate goals; manuscript and museum curators acquire collections that were gathered or assembled for various reasons
3. method of acquisition
a. librarians purchase items
b. most holdings of archives are transferred in or are donated (as in museums)
4. differences in status of ownership
a. library owns its books, etc.--it bought them--but not the contents
b. recipient of MSS has physical ownership, but creator owns the content
c. archives are property of corporate body that created or received thm
d. governmental entities have no copyright--are in public domain
5. access
a. libraries tend to have open access
b. access to corporate archives is governed by the rules of the institution-- underlying principle is that of preserving the integrity of the records
(a) Manuscript & museum collections are never open to browsing by researchers
(b) use of collections is usually limited to researchers who need to know
(c) reference librarian stands between the user and the catalog; archivist stands between the finding aid and the material itself, explaining to the user how the material is structured; museum curators provide the interpretation of exhibits before the user even arrives
6. arrangement
a. libraries usually arrange materials by a standard classification system (LC/Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal)
b. there is no such scheme with archival collections, which may be physically located by type of materials (photos all together), by date of accession, with access driven by the descriptive guides
c. arrangement within archival collections is contextual -- that is the uniqueness of archival collections - the placement of the items in a collection reflects on the structure of the institution
d. archives takes the Aristotelian route--uses organic principles such as provenance--whereas libraries are set up according to an artificial system of classification, which is abstract and Platonic
7. use
a. "libraries exist for readers; archives and manuscripts exist for writers"
b. researchers depend on books for basic knowledge and established interpretations, but they prize historical manuscripts as among the primary sources for discovering previously unknown truths and for constructing new interpretations
History of archives:
ancient archivists tended to be well educated, from upper classes, and well paid (earned the same as generals), because control of info was power
ancient world did not differentiate between current (archivio) and noncurrent (archivio di deposito) records; that began in the Middle Ages when monks et al. copied important records for frequent use, to protect the originals in an inner sanctum
use of clay tablets encompassed most of the civilized world, and were in use for about 3,000 years
"For more than half the time mankind has communicated in writing, most of the writing has been on clay."
Rome's Tabularium was the first monumental, fire resistant structure for housing the state archives
first modern archives was the French National Archives
French Revolution marked a new beginning in archives administration:
1. framework of nationwide system led to central national archives, with subordinate depositories
2. state recognized its responsibility to care for its nation's documentary heritage
3. established principles of archivist's accountability to the public
respect des fonds is French principle that bodies of documents correspond to a former administrative unit and should be preserved accordingly
provenance, which Posner calls the "principle of the sanctity of the original order."
use began in Privy State Archives in Berlin, by order of historian Max Lehmann in his 1881 Regulations
American archival profession was/is an adjunct of the free enterprise system; started with individuals saving papers (theirs and others') from early on
historic chaotic decentralization of archivy in US
Massachusetts Historical Society (1791) - 1st historical society – it institutionalized the collecting of historical manuscripts
J. Franklin Jameson
(a) was influenced by the German scientific approach
(b) received the first PhD in history from Johns J. Hopkins
(c) co-founded the American Historical Society in 1884 during a meeting of the Social Science Assn. in NY and became its president
(d) edited the American Historical Review for 37 years
(e) was chief of the MSS Division at LC for about 20 years
(f) role in establishing U.S. National Archives
- 1890 census was destroyed by a fire and received much press attention
- Jameson sent 26 bills through Congress for establishment of the National Archives
- building was contracted for in 1929, opened in 1934
why were the 1930s was the "crucial decade" for public archives in the U.S.?
(1) establishment of National Archives
(2) formation of SAA
(3) work of the Historical Records Survey, and
(4) emergence of American archival theory with strength in its application of European archival principals to the particular problems of modern records
archival diversification and proliferation since WW II has brought under archival control a far greater variety of recorded information than otherwise would have been possible
there are between 16,000 - 19,000 repositories of archives and manuscripts just in the US
Archival acquisition and appraisal:
Bottom line about archival materials: we provide researchers with contextual information
- a collection is more valuable if it covers various accounts of one period of history, collected in one place
- the best documents are immediate, not ex-post-facto renderings
- a single item may not in and of itself possess outstanding historical significance, but the whole of the parts to which it belongs may be of great value
Archival knowledge encompasses four areas:
(1) individuals, organizations, and institutions
(2) the records themselves
(3) the use of records and
(4) the principles best suited to organizing and managing these records.
Facts that shape the collecting policy:
a. nature of institution
(1) the parent organization's goals and programs
(2) college/university Acquisition Policies depend on whether state or private, research institution or teaching, faculty strengths, age of institution (the older it is, the more diverse its holdings)
(3) previous policies and programs explored or implemented by the archives and by the parent institution
(4) tradition, e.g. most congressmen's papers go back to the state or district
b. what already exists in the collections
(1) build on your strengths
(2) evaluate weak areas
c. your physical, technical and financial ability to accept material
d. the collecting activities and goals of other organizations in your community or region
(1) avoid duplication
(2) coordinate collecting activities where possible
(3) archivists ought to trade collections to their more suitable repositories
e. the documentary needs of your clientele
3 instruments of transfer and 2 administrative records:
1. DEED OF GIFT
2. DEPOSIT AGREEMENT
3. PURCHASE AGREEMENT
4. ACCESSION LIST OR LOG = a multi-field searchable computer database (formerly, a numerical or chronological list) of a repository's donations and purchases
5. DONOR FILE (case file) (a file for each collection)
Archival appraisal, two meanings:
a. assigning monetary value (as described above)
b. intellectual evaluation of the materials with an eye to deciding what to save
Appraisal questions focus on the (1) characteristics and (2) values of the records:
1) identify the records' characteristics
A. what type of records are they? Are they textual or non-textual?
B. what is (or was) their purpose? Who created them?
C. how old are they?
D. what condition are they in? Do they need conservation work?
E. do they duplicate other records in our office or institution, or somewhere else? Are there similar records?
F. are they in a useful/accessible form? (see also, Informational values, tests of)
G. what is their extent? Do we have adequate storage space, supplies and staff to process them? Can we afford to accession them?
2) identify the records' values
- primary values of records are their benefit to the originating agency itself, for administrative, legal, fiscal, etc. ends; their current value to the people who created them
(1) administrative - useful to the creators in the conduct of their current business
(2) legal - they document legal rights, duties, and obligations
(3) fiscal - they document required financial functions
- secondary values are the records' benefit to other users, long after the records have served any administrative function; 2 aspects of the secondary values:
(4) evidential values
- defined as info in the collection which document the functioning and the administrative organization of the creating institution or person
(5) informational values
- these pertain to the info existing in the materials
- info about the persons, things, bodies, problems and conditions at the time when the records were being created
Pyramid of records created:
ca. 3% policy - save almost all of it
ca. 12% program = records of what the inst. is doing; this is where appraisal is difficult
ca. 85% housekeeping = personnel records, rent, supplies - don't save much
What should be preserved?
1. policy documents
2. records about the origins of an agency or undertaking; often the object of the program is most clearly stated at the beginning
3. records on substantive programs, e.g. summary narrative accounts (annual reports, agency histories), though the archivist's function is to preserve the evidence on which reinterpretations can be based, not merely to preserve current official interpretations of evidence
4. budgets submitted, and the chief legal officer's correspondence, opinions and interpretations
5. research and investigations records
6. public relations publications
7. items with intrinsic value = records which must be retained as originals, because only the original will do; otherwise, could they be microfilmed and discarded?
8. a sampling of case files about: significant normal actions, new programs, and significant deviations from the norm
APPRAISAL TECHNIQUES - three main techniques used in appraising large collections:
1) collective appraisal features preparation of disposition schedules
- scheduling = making a list of everything that exists (or may not exist) from an organization, and making a decision for each entry whether to retain, discard, or retain temporarily
2) weeding = removing items which are considered to have little or no value; these might include copies, circulars, and forms. Weeding decreases collection size and improves collection focus.
3) sampling = the selection of records which best reflect the functions and activities of the creator
- four types of sampling (from Trudy Peterson, Asst. Archivist, National Archives):
(1) statistical = based on mathematical techniques which determine the number of samples to choose, & how to choose them, in order to preserve a statistically valid sample
(2) systematical = selective sampling by filing scheme, but without regard for content of the file (e.g., every 20th file, or every file over 1" thick, or every "c" file)
-both above methods disregard content
(3) exemplary = focusing on certain characteristics (e.g., files of a typical set, or of a certain geographic locale)
(4) exceptional = files on an unusual situation, those that show the setting of a precedent, those about a V.I.P., etc.
Informational values - 3 tests:
1) uniqueness
- of the info, and of the records containing the info
2) form - of the information and of the records
- their physical condition, ease of use, and arrangement
3) importance
- generally, the more important the person or thing, the more important is the record relating to it
- before applying the test of importance, be sure that the records pass the tests of uniqueness and form (which are more objectively determined)
Establishing intellectual controls at the repository is a simultaneous 4-aspect process of:
a. analysis
b. selection
c. arrangement
d. description
- archival rule of thumb: do no harm; leave materials in original order and let your description lead you into the material according to the organizational structure of the institution
- arrangement = the scheme by which groups of items and collections are ordered to reveal their content and significance
- rule of thumb: apply Zipf's Law of Least Effort
Basic archival principles of arrangement:
1) provenance = (Bressor, p. 12) records of different offices of origin or from different donors or sources should be kept separate, to maintain the organic nature of the files and thus to maintain the evidential value of the records
2) original order = respect for the arrangement in which the materials came to the institution, so that records are retained in the order originally imposed on them, and in which they were actually or presumably used
3) peel the onion; start broadly and only process to the necessary level of detail
Five levels of archival arrangement:
1) repository = all the records of a repository; this level is based on ownership or custody of the materials
2) record group (in archives) or collection (with manuscripts)
3) series = the general category of the type of materials and the most important level of archival arrangement. These are made up of records that…
* relate to a particular subject or function
* result from the same activity
* have a particular form, or
* are related by use, receipt, or creation
4) filing unit level describes a group of items brought together for convenience in filing, e.g. a file folder of documents or a bound volume
5) item or document
- description = "the process of establishing intellectual control over holdings through the preparation of finding aids," which include various types of content summaries: inventories, subject guides, lists, registers, indexes, and catalogs
Archival access and reference services:
access = who can see the materials, under what circumstances?
reference = process of making info in the holdings of a repository available
convergence of 3 elements in reference:
(1) researcher
(2) records
(3) staff
equal access policy
- primary policy of reference service
- must apply access limitations consistently to all researchers
- an ideal?, may sometimes not be 100% possible even at public institutions?
Archivists have assumed that users will want high recall and not mind low precision; willing to wade through many irrelevant documents so as not to miss any important ones. Is this assumption still valid? (Think about the costs of travel by out of town researchers, and the notion these days that everything should be available 24/7 in digital form.)
What are the archivist’s options for best serving today’s researchers?
What is the best approach? What is the archivist's job as regards reference service?
1. to help the researcher develop a search strategy
2. not to give all the desired answers, but to help them narrow their search among the aggregates through provision of generalized descriptions
3. staff won't do substantive research for a user
4. good finding aids will help the user ask better questions
How has the current technology changed the nature of reference--both for the good and for the bad
MID-TERM EXAMINATION/ possible test formats (it's your own course, so pick which you want, and do it!):
1. short essay; sample essay question: the 1930s were the crucial decade for archival development in the U.S. Agree or disagree?
2. archival terms - I'll have the definition, you write in the term
3. true and false
4. fill in the blank
5. something you’ve learned from following a thread of discussion on the Archives and Archivists email list
6. or, none of the above formats!
At any rate, all will be drawn from material covered in class, supported by readings, critically synthesized by you.
Look at the questions in these notes, and be ready to draw from what you’ve read in the Keeping Archives course textbook.
Midterm Review Notes
by Todd Ellison
Introduction to archives: "archives" has 4 different meanings:
(1) the papers of an organization; specifically, noncurrent records that have been transferred to a place of long-term storage because of their long-range value (this is the primary German and American usage)
(2) the agency or institution that manages the records
(3) the building
(4) the totality of all the records of any agency or institution or person (the Romance usage; Italian archivio = records) (also used in computer jargon today)
purpose of an archives: "to meet the needs of researchers and potential archival users by ensuring that historical records are collected, identified, organized, preserved, and made available for research use."
characteristics of recorded information today:
1. voluminous, lots of data but a paucity of information
2. electronic technological developments have caused a proliferation of paper records
photographs as historical documents
· photographic records generally are the most heavily used documents in archives and manuscript repositories
· whereas writings explain "why", photos answer "how" -
· photos problems due to their varieties, impermanence (esp. the unstable medium of color photos), and volume, but they've become a basic means of documentation; recognize that they may have been taken for different purposes than users have in mind today
information is a commodity; it is our capital; it is a strategic resource, it is power; this makes us more than clerks, if we recognize these facts, because communication is the life channel of the information age
Should archivists collect everything?
What are the risks of not preserving everything?
What are the risks of trying to preserve it all?
What is "everything?"
Information is a commodity; it's capital. With the proliferation of new technologies the quantity of data has skyrocketed by the quality of each item has plummeted. As a result, archivists have to take the large view of the world of information and must be selective. They can't just rake it in.
graph of varieties of documents:
immediacy reliability accessibility permanence
oral history
written documents
personal letters
photos
audiocassettes
videos
magnetic diskettes
telephone
3 pairs of categories of the six archival functions:
1. appraisal and acquisition
2. organization (arrangement and description)
3. access and preservation
6 functional categories of records:
1. personal
2. social
3. economic
4. legal
5. instrumental
6. symbolic
key article by F. Gerald Ham, for understanding new role of archivists -- 9 questions written in class exercise
7 differences between libraries, archives, and museums (think about how these differences – and the similarities – shape the nature of the job of a librarian, an archivist, and a curator):
Key point: archives and libraries all hold most of the same categories of items, but in different proportions, and the rationale for their creation/compilation is different
libraries mostly contain published materials (books, periodicals, maps, A/V materials, microforms...), mostly with items obtained commercially
museums also hold permanently valuable materials--but mostly artifacts, 3 dimensional
1. ratio of different forms of contents
- archives contain permanently valuable records; mostly unpublished materials, many of them unique; if published materials, they're apt to have been personalized: autographed or gathered thoughtfully to form a collection, but usually items that never attained commercial status
- libraries mostly contain published materials, most obtained commercially
2. purpose of their creation
a. librarians have a commercial interest
b. archivists satisfy corporate goals; manuscript and museum curators acquire collections that were gathered or assembled for various reasons
3. method of acquisition
a. librarians purchase items
b. most holdings of archives are transferred in or are donated (as in museums)
4. differences in status of ownership
a. library owns its books, etc.--it bought them--but not the contents
b. recipient of MSS has physical ownership, but creator owns the content
c. archives are property of corporate body that created or received thm
d. governmental entities have no copyright--are in public domain
5. access
a. libraries tend to have open access
b. access to corporate archives is governed by the rules of the institution-- underlying principle is that of preserving the integrity of the records
(a) Manuscript & museum collections are never open to browsing by researchers
(b) use of collections is usually limited to researchers who need to know
(c) reference librarian stands between the user and the catalog; archivist stands between the finding aid and the material itself, explaining to the user how the material is structured; museum curators provide the interpretation of exhibits before the user even arrives
6. arrangement
a. libraries usually arrange materials by a standard classification system (LC/Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal)
b. there is no such scheme with archival collections, which may be physically located by type of materials (photos all together), by date of accession, with access driven by the descriptive guides
c. arrangement within archival collections is contextual -- that is the uniqueness of archival collections - the placement of the items in a collection reflects on the structure of the institution
d. archives takes the Aristotelian route--uses organic principles such as provenance--whereas libraries are set up according to an artificial system of classification, which is abstract and Platonic
7. use
a. "libraries exist for readers; archives and manuscripts exist for writers"
b. researchers depend on books for basic knowledge and established interpretations, but they prize historical manuscripts as among the primary sources for discovering previously unknown truths and for constructing new interpretations
History of archives:
ancient archivists tended to be well educated, from upper classes, and well paid (earned the same as generals), because control of info was power
ancient world did not differentiate between current (archivio) and noncurrent (archivio di deposito) records; that began in the Middle Ages when monks et al. copied important records for frequent use, to protect the originals in an inner sanctum
use of clay tablets encompassed most of the civilized world, and were in use for about 3,000 years
"For more than half the time mankind has communicated in writing, most of the writing has been on clay."
Rome's Tabularium was the first monumental, fire resistant structure for housing the state archives
first modern archives was the French National Archives
French Revolution marked a new beginning in archives administration:
1. framework of nationwide system led to central national archives, with subordinate depositories
2. state recognized its responsibility to care for its nation's documentary heritage
3. established principles of archivist's accountability to the public
respect des fonds is French principle that bodies of documents correspond to a former administrative unit and should be preserved accordingly
provenance, which Posner calls the "principle of the sanctity of the original order."
use began in Privy State Archives in Berlin, by order of historian Max Lehmann in his 1881 Regulations
American archival profession was/is an adjunct of the free enterprise system; started with individuals saving papers (theirs and others') from early on
historic chaotic decentralization of archivy in US
Massachusetts Historical Society (1791) - 1st historical society – it institutionalized the collecting of historical manuscripts
J. Franklin Jameson
(a) was influenced by the German scientific approach
(b) received the first PhD in history from Johns J. Hopkins
(c) co-founded the American Historical Society in 1884 during a meeting of the Social Science Assn. in NY and became its president
(d) edited the American Historical Review for 37 years
(e) was chief of the MSS Division at LC for about 20 years
(f) role in establishing U.S. National Archives
- 1890 census was destroyed by a fire and received much press attention
- Jameson sent 26 bills through Congress for establishment of the National Archives
- building was contracted for in 1929, opened in 1934
why were the 1930s was the "crucial decade" for public archives in the U.S.?
(1) establishment of National Archives
(2) formation of SAA
(3) work of the Historical Records Survey, and
(4) emergence of American archival theory with strength in its application of European archival principals to the particular problems of modern records
archival diversification and proliferation since WW II has brought under archival control a far greater variety of recorded information than otherwise would have been possible
there are between 16,000 - 19,000 repositories of archives and manuscripts just in the US
Archival acquisition and appraisal:
Bottom line about archival materials: we provide researchers with contextual information
- a collection is more valuable if it covers various accounts of one period of history, collected in one place
- the best documents are immediate, not ex-post-facto renderings
- a single item may not in and of itself possess outstanding historical significance, but the whole of the parts to which it belongs may be of great value
Archival knowledge encompasses four areas:
(1) individuals, organizations, and institutions
(2) the records themselves
(3) the use of records and
(4) the principles best suited to organizing and managing these records.
Facts that shape the collecting policy:
a. nature of institution
(1) the parent organization's goals and programs
(2) college/university Acquisition Policies depend on whether state or private, research institution or teaching, faculty strengths, age of institution (the older it is, the more diverse its holdings)
(3) previous policies and programs explored or implemented by the archives and by the parent institution
(4) tradition, e.g. most congressmen's papers go back to the state or district
b. what already exists in the collections
(1) build on your strengths
(2) evaluate weak areas
c. your physical, technical and financial ability to accept material
d. the collecting activities and goals of other organizations in your community or region
(1) avoid duplication
(2) coordinate collecting activities where possible
(3) archivists ought to trade collections to their more suitable repositories
e. the documentary needs of your clientele
3 instruments of transfer and 2 administrative records:
1. DEED OF GIFT
2. DEPOSIT AGREEMENT
3. PURCHASE AGREEMENT
4. ACCESSION LIST OR LOG = a multi-field searchable computer database (formerly, a numerical or chronological list) of a repository's donations and purchases
5. DONOR FILE (case file) (a file for each collection)
Archival appraisal, two meanings:
a. assigning monetary value (as described above)
b. intellectual evaluation of the materials with an eye to deciding what to save
Appraisal questions focus on the (1) characteristics and (2) values of the records:
1) identify the records' characteristics
A. what type of records are they? Are they textual or non-textual?
B. what is (or was) their purpose? Who created them?
C. how old are they?
D. what condition are they in? Do they need conservation work?
E. do they duplicate other records in our office or institution, or somewhere else? Are there similar records?
F. are they in a useful/accessible form? (see also, Informational values, tests of)
G. what is their extent? Do we have adequate storage space, supplies and staff to process them? Can we afford to accession them?
2) identify the records' values
- primary values of records are their benefit to the originating agency itself, for administrative, legal, fiscal, etc. ends; their current value to the people who created them
(1) administrative - useful to the creators in the conduct of their current business
(2) legal - they document legal rights, duties, and obligations
(3) fiscal - they document required financial functions
- secondary values are the records' benefit to other users, long after the records have served any administrative function; 2 aspects of the secondary values:
(4) evidential values
- defined as info in the collection which document the functioning and the administrative organization of the creating institution or person
(5) informational values
- these pertain to the info existing in the materials
- info about the persons, things, bodies, problems and conditions at the time when the records were being created
Pyramid of records created:
ca. 3% policy - save almost all of it
ca. 12% program = records of what the inst. is doing; this is where appraisal is difficult
ca. 85% housekeeping = personnel records, rent, supplies - don't save much
What should be preserved?
1. policy documents
2. records about the origins of an agency or undertaking; often the object of the program is most clearly stated at the beginning
3. records on substantive programs, e.g. summary narrative accounts (annual reports, agency histories), though the archivist's function is to preserve the evidence on which reinterpretations can be based, not merely to preserve current official interpretations of evidence
4. budgets submitted, and the chief legal officer's correspondence, opinions and interpretations
5. research and investigations records
6. public relations publications
7. items with intrinsic value = records which must be retained as originals, because only the original will do; otherwise, could they be microfilmed and discarded?
8. a sampling of case files about: significant normal actions, new programs, and significant deviations from the norm
APPRAISAL TECHNIQUES - three main techniques used in appraising large collections:
1) collective appraisal features preparation of disposition schedules
- scheduling = making a list of everything that exists (or may not exist) from an organization, and making a decision for each entry whether to retain, discard, or retain temporarily
2) weeding = removing items which are considered to have little or no value; these might include copies, circulars, and forms. Weeding decreases collection size and improves collection focus.
3) sampling = the selection of records which best reflect the functions and activities of the creator
- four types of sampling (from Trudy Peterson, Asst. Archivist, National Archives):
(1) statistical = based on mathematical techniques which determine the number of samples to choose, & how to choose them, in order to preserve a statistically valid sample
(2) systematical = selective sampling by filing scheme, but without regard for content of the file (e.g., every 20th file, or every file over 1" thick, or every "c" file)
-both above methods disregard content
(3) exemplary = focusing on certain characteristics (e.g., files of a typical set, or of a certain geographic locale)
(4) exceptional = files on an unusual situation, those that show the setting of a precedent, those about a V.I.P., etc.
Informational values - 3 tests:
1) uniqueness
- of the info, and of the records containing the info
2) form - of the information and of the records
- their physical condition, ease of use, and arrangement
3) importance
- generally, the more important the person or thing, the more important is the record relating to it
- before applying the test of importance, be sure that the records pass the tests of uniqueness and form (which are more objectively determined)
Establishing intellectual controls at the repository is a simultaneous 4-aspect process of:
a. analysis
b. selection
c. arrangement
d. description
- archival rule of thumb: do no harm; leave materials in original order and let your description lead you into the material according to the organizational structure of the institution
- arrangement = the scheme by which groups of items and collections are ordered to reveal their content and significance
- rule of thumb: apply Zipf's Law of Least Effort
Basic archival principles of arrangement:
1) provenance = (Bressor, p. 12) records of different offices of origin or from different donors or sources should be kept separate, to maintain the organic nature of the files and thus to maintain the evidential value of the records
2) original order = respect for the arrangement in which the materials came to the institution, so that records are retained in the order originally imposed on them, and in which they were actually or presumably used
3) peel the onion; start broadly and only process to the necessary level of detail
Five levels of archival arrangement:
1) repository = all the records of a repository; this level is based on ownership or custody of the materials
2) record group (in archives) or collection (with manuscripts)
3) series = the general category of the type of materials and the most important level of archival arrangement. These are made up of records that…
* relate to a particular subject or function
* result from the same activity
* have a particular form, or
* are related by use, receipt, or creation
4) filing unit level describes a group of items brought together for convenience in filing, e.g. a file folder of documents or a bound volume
5) item or document
- description = "the process of establishing intellectual control over holdings through the preparation of finding aids," which include various types of content summaries: inventories, subject guides, lists, registers, indexes, and catalogs
Archival access and reference services:
access = who can see the materials, under what circumstances?
reference = process of making info in the holdings of a repository available
convergence of 3 elements in reference:
(1) researcher
(2) records
(3) staff
equal access policy
- primary policy of reference service
- must apply access limitations consistently to all researchers
- an ideal?, may sometimes not be 100% possible even at public institutions?
Archivists have assumed that users will want high recall and not mind low precision; willing to wade through many irrelevant documents so as not to miss any important ones. Is this assumption still valid? (Think about the costs of travel by out of town researchers, and the notion these days that everything should be available 24/7 in digital form.)
What are the archivist’s options for best serving today’s researchers?
What is the best approach? What is the archivist's job as regards reference service?
1. to help the researcher develop a search strategy
2. not to give all the desired answers, but to help them narrow their search among the aggregates through provision of generalized descriptions
3. staff won't do substantive research for a user
4. good finding aids will help the user ask better questions
How has the current technology changed the nature of reference--both for the good and for the bad
MID-TERM EXAMINATION/ possible test formats (it's your own course, so pick which you want, and do it!):
1. short essay; sample essay question: the 1930s were the crucial decade for archival development in the U.S. Agree or disagree?
2. archival terms - I'll have the definition, you write in the term
3. true and false
4. fill in the blank
5. something you’ve learned from following a thread of discussion on the Archives and Archivists email list
6. or, none of the above formats!
At any rate, all will be drawn from material covered in class, supported by readings, critically synthesized by you.
Look at the questions in these notes, and be ready to draw from what you’ve read in the Keeping Archives course textbook.